Mr Flinders said his son had undergone an operation in Norway to remove small
pieces of bone and parts of the polar bear's teeth, while he also suffered
arm injuries. His son's face and head are badly swollen but he has spoken to
him on the phone and he sounded well.
"He said: 'Dad, I've got a bone to pick with you, that bit you did in the
paper where you said if the polar bear had glasses it would have gone for me
because I was the chubbiest!'," Mr Flinders said. "All the nurses
had been laughing about it.
"When he tells me off I know he's getting back to normal."
Doctors are going to assess Patrick tomorrow to try to ascertain when he can
be transferred home to Jersey.
Mr Flinders added: "I told him 'you're a hero here mate, the way you
attacked that bear'. He said he can't remember doing it, but I suppose it
might come back to him later."
Patrick punched the bear on the nose and used his rifle "like a baseball
bat" to fight off the bear but was still seriously injured.
Mr Flinders admitted that he was worried about his son's mental health more
than his physical health.
"I imagine the horrors of seeing his friend savaged and killed by a polar
bear just inches away will play through his mind time and time again.
"It would be bad enough for an adult, let alone a young lad.
Mr Flinders' comments came as police disclosed organisers of the expedition on
which a British schoolboy was
killed by a polar bear had a gun which failed to fire four times and
had not assigned a nightwatchman.
Horatio Chapple, 17, a pupil at Eton, was
mauled to death by the 39-stone bear which entered the expedition’s
campsite on the Norwegian
Arctic island of Svalbard early in the morning.
An explosive trip wire designed to scare off approaching animals failed to
trigger and without a watchman there was no second line of defence.
Mike Reid, the 29-year-old expedition leader, desperately tried to shoot the
animal after it attacked the tent where people were sleeping, explained
Superintendent Arild Lyssand . But each time he pulled the trigger the rifle
failed to fire. His fellow guide Andy Ruck, 27, tried to fire a flare, but
that failed too.
Moments later, having fatally hurt Horatio, the bear turned its attention to
Mr Reid, severely injuring him.
It then returned to the tent where it attacked one other teenager before
chasing down a third, who had tried to escape. Mr Reid picked up a round off
the ground which had failed to fire and reloaded. He then shot the bear in
the head and killed it.
Superintendent Lyssand said: "The 29 year-old picked up the rifle and pulled
the trigger but the gun didn’t fire. Why did this happen?
"The gunman fired again but again it didn’t go off. He fired all four bullets
in the magazine but none went off. We need to look at the routines of this
British company to see that they were in order."
An autopsy on the polar bear has shown that it had a "very thin layer" of fat
and an empty stomach - suggesting it was driven to attack by hunger.
Investigators have now questioned all but one, severely injured, survivor of
the tragedy.
The expedition was organised by the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES),
which was camped on the Von Post glacier near Longyearbyen, 600 miles north
of the Norwegian mainland. Eighty 16 to 23 year-olds were on the trip, which
was planned to last until August 28, but has now been cut sort.
On Thursday night, 13 of them set up camp, including a perimeter trip wire, on
barren ground following a 25-mile trek. But at 7.30 the following morning
they were woken when the male bear ripped open one of the tents. Mr Reid and
Andy Ruck, 27, sustained severe head injuries as they tried to defend
Horatio.
Scott Bennell-Smith, 17, from Cornwall, suffered a broken jaw and smashed
teeth, and Patrick Flinders, 16, of Jersey, was clawed across the face. The
victims threw rocks at the bear as it attacked.
Expedition leaders are advised that camps should be protected either by trip
wires, lookouts thought the night or guard dogs. However, it emerged
yesterday that the camp had operated without an overnight lookout or guard
dog, and that the tripwire flares were not stuck in the ground sufficiently
to go off.
Regular trekkers said the wires should be attached to wooden posts driven into
the ground and revealed that they must be set up correctly to ensure the
device detonates when tripped, but cannot be activated by a gust of wind.
A spokesman for the governor of Svalbard said that the trip wire appeared not
to have been detonated. A group of Swiss walkers ending a two-day trek said
they would not trust a tripwire: "We prefer to have someone permanently on
watch and rotate them over the night."
Andy Rouse, a wildlife photographer with experience of the region, said that
groups needed to be "armed to the teeth" to counter any possible threat. But
it was reported that the bear may have been shot with an old Mauser hunting
rifle. The German made, bolt-action weapons are common on the island, locals
said.
Two of the injured left University Hospital in Tromso yesterday to fly home on
separate air ambulances. One was scheduled to land in Exeter, while the
other was bound for Southampton. Two other injured expedition members were
due to fly home today. Their injuries are understood to include 6in cuts,
claw marks and one serious bite to the arm.
Horatio’s parents were preparing to return with their son’s body. David
Chapple, 49, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Salisbury NHS Foundation,
and Olivia, a doctor at Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals, flew
to Tromso to make the arrangements.
A statement from them said: "We, as Horatio’s family, appreciate how
supportive and compassionate the Norwegian people have been to us during
this extremely painful time.
"We would like to thank the British Ambassador and her staff and everyone at
the British Schools Exploring Society for their incredible support and help."
Lt Gen Peter Pearson, the executive director of the British Schools Exploring
Society, said that expeditions would go on. "We have been coming here for 40
years and we have never experienced anything like this," he said.
Yesterday, Peter Bennell-Smith, Scott’s father, said: "It will never leave me
to think how close Scott came to being killed that day.
"I am so sorry for the loss of his new friend and fellow adventurer, Horatio;
it is every parent’s worst nightmare."
Internally displaced people during a sandstorm outside ZamZam camp in Al Fasher, north Darfur. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
Sudan has recently navigated one of the most challenging events since gaining independence, a referendum in which the people of the country's south determined whether they will remain a part of Sudan or secede to form the world's newest country.
The referendum was the zenith of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 22 years of civil war between the north and the south. That the process proceeded peacefully and freely is largely due to the outstanding statesmanship of the governments of Sudan and southern Sudan and to the unprecedented level of commitment and cooperation shown by countries and international organisations supporting the north-south peace process.
Against this background, a simmering war is being fought in Darfur and a solution remains elusive. While engaged in peace talks in Doha, Qatar's capital, armed groups and government forces continue intermittently to attack each other. Eventually, they will have to accept the inescapable reality that there is no military solution to the Darfur conflict, no matter how long it takes.
The periodic bouts of conflict between armed movements and government forces, between tribes fighting for land, scarce natural resources or local political power, cause fresh displacements and prevent people from returning home.
Some degree of relief is provided by the dedicated peacekeepers of the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (Unamid, a joint AU and UN mission) and humanitarian aid workers who work to protect civilians and deliver assistance in very challenging and arduous conditions. While parts of Darfur have progressively stabilised as the conflict has subsided, the people of Darfur continue to suffer in other parts. Despite their resilience and valiant efforts, too many Darfuris remain dependent on aid, unable to return, to reclaim their lives, plan for their future or enjoy basic freedoms.
Only a political solution agreed at a negotiating table in a "win-win atmosphere" for all the belligerents and stakeholders will bring sustainable peace to Darfur.
International diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict have, in recent years, largely centred on negotiations in Doha between the government and armed groups, attempting to broker a ceasefire and peace agreement. After two and half years of commendable and tireless efforts by the joint chief mediator, Djibril Bassole, and the Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, these talks could be on the verge of bringing about a comprehensive and inclusive, till now elusive, peace agreement.
Now is the time to give the people of Darfur the opportunity to express their views and concerns, to the government and to each other. Now is the time for all Darfuris, for the government and the opposition, for the armed groups and for the government forces, to come together and enter in a dialogue designed to resolve their differences and herald peace in Darfur.
It is with this in mind that the Darfur Political Process (DPP), a series of broadly inclusive popular consultations, will begin. Crucial to the credibility and prospects for success of this Darfur-based initiative is the need to ensure that those represented are able to participate without fear of being harmed, harassed, detained or otherwise restricted as a result of their involvement. I have sought and obtained assurances from the highest levels of government that steps will be taken for a suitable, enabling environment that protects the basic rights and freedoms of all participants. It would be critical to ensure that the assurances are effectively translated into tangible outcomes on the ground to ensure broad-based participation.
While some stakeholders have expressed concern that the initiative may be susceptible to interference and manipulation, the former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and the AU high level panel on Darfur he chairs, and I have elicited pledges from the government that it will respect the independence of the process and refrain from unduly interfering in it. Let me note here that, contrary to opinions in some quarters, the DPP is not part of Sudanese government's strategy for Darfur. It is an initiative distinct from the government's plans, developed independently in response to the expressed desire of many Darfuris to be more fully included in their peace process.
I appeal to the government of Sudan to take advantage of the immediate post-referendum period to set a new course for peace in Darfur. The armed movements should also demonstrate, in concrete and practical manner, their commitment to bring peace to the region by engaging urgently and in good faith in efforts to end the Darfur conflict comprehensively and inclusively or else face measures which the UN security council may impose.
I urge the international community to stay the course in Sudan and replicate recent achievements in the implementation of the north-south peace process by brokering peace in Darfur. Among those who have been important partners for peace in Sudan, the African Union and the UN continue to play an important role in supporting the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement.
The immediate post-referendum environment presents an ideal opportunity to marshal our common resolve to broker, successfully and honestly, a durable solution to the conflict. The people of Darfur deserve no less than our collective and full commitment to attain this goal. Their lives, their hopes, their dreams and their futures depend on it.
The holding of a referendum for southern Sudan represents the final stages of a successful peace process that ended a long and protracted civil war between the peoples of north and south Sudan. Let's work to ensure it also marks a new chapter so that genuine claim could be laid to bringing peace to the people of Darfur in our time.
• Ibrahim Gambari is joint special representative, African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur
Under the sun of equatorial Africa, Rwandans were dancing to the beat of an
ancient drum. Their aim was to thank a dozen Conservatives for coming to see
their very rural village.
The small group of Tory volunteers had travelled about three hours from the
capital Kigali in search of real evidence of what the money from
international aid and charities means on the ground. We were all there at
our own expense, taking a chance to see a country few would otherwise visit,
and hoping to make a useful difference in our own right, too.
The occasion was Project Umubano, an initiative that has seen a changing group
of around 100 volunteers visit Rwanda annually since 2007: doctors,
teachers, businessmen and other volunteers give freely of their time. Among
the veterans was Christopher Shale, the chairman of David Cameron’s local
Conservative association, who was found dead at Glastonbury earlier this
year.
Shale often used to say that Umubano was one of the things of which he was
most proud. He and I worked closely with charities supporting the survivors
of the 1994 genocide, encouraging them to bid for existing charity money and
to raise more from international donors. Later, he talked, with his
trademark hyperbole, of a "serious, enduring, passionate romance" with
Rwanda.
Along with Umubano’s MPs in Rwanda (and also in Sierra Leone), there are
activists and other members. Although you have to have a Conservative Party
affiliation to come, the project is not party-political - it’s probably
worth noting that this most economically ambitious of African nations wants
to trade with its neighbours and with Europe, rather than simply being given
aid. Perhaps there is a link between the sort of economic rigour being
espoused in Conservative aid policy and such international success.
This year, as part of the Community Project that Shale set up, we’ve organised
a programme to train small charities, building up to a pitch for money
obtained by the Survivors’ Fund, an English charity. The challenge is to get
enough done to make it worthwhile going, while also seeking to leave a
legacy.
One of those legacies, along with a memorial garden, is a cricket ground in
Shale’s memory. Each year, the project’s volunteers have played a Rwandan
XI, and each year we have lost. As Rwanda sought to join the Commonwealth,
it changed the official language from French to English. Now, all the
children - to whom we are distributing toothbrushes, as we teach them to
clean their teeth - speak English. Some Rwandans also took up cricket, so
Shale suggested that we should raise money for a proper pitch, where the
outfield did not contain spent shell cases (a reminder that the events of
1994 are not in the overly distant past). Although the Rwandans would not
trouble our county teams, they have been a lot better than us - so this
year’s British victory surprised everybody.
There are those, especially on the Right of the Conservative Party, who ask
what the point of international development money is when budgets are so
tight at home. Just yesterday, this newspaper reported that voters are
sceptical about the Coalition’s commitment to international aid. Yet during
my fortnight-long visit to Rwanda, I saw why the policy is not just
admirable, but sensible. The money spent in the developing world is not just
fostering trading partners for the future - it plays a major part in
preventing the kind of discontent that leads to extremism.
Others have argued that Rwanda is not the beacon many claim: economic growth
hides, it is said, repressive media laws and a dictatorship run by President
Paul Kagame. The UN and Human Rights Watch have produced critical reports.
Andrew Mitchell, the Secretary of State for International Development, who
was volunteering with us this year, has had frank conversations with Kagame.
True, Rwanda’s zeal to ensure that the genocide should not happen again, and
that Hutus and Tutsis should live peacefully together, has led to laws akin
to those suppressing Nazi groups in Germany. Yet anyone who has spent some
time in this country can see that something is necessary to maintain the
fragile status quo. The scars from a million deaths do not heal in 17 years.
Reformed media laws are set to ease the restrictions - and it is fairly
clear that there are near-neighbours whose records are far worse, who have
had far less to contend with, and who deserve far harsher treatment. As
Mitchell says, we can at least be confident that the Rwandan government
spends aid money effectively.
Umubano takes place in a beautiful country, but it is no holiday. Christopher
Shale’s approach was, as it was with his local party, to seek to change from
within and to have fun while doing it. That notion - that progress is not a
spectator sport - is as applicable in Britain as it is in the wider world.
The performance of "For You, My White Flowers", which viewers were
informed President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov had written himself, was the
highlight of a television special put on to mark his 54th birthday.
It was also projected onto a giant screen as the climax of a concert attended
by 3,500 cheering citizens in the centre of Ashgabat, the country’s capital
of gold and white marble, on Saturday night
The country's state television said that the guitar the president used would
now be housed in the state museum as a "national asset and great
treasure".
Turkmenistan’s
long-suffering people are becoming inured to displays of Mr
Berdymukhamedov’s many and varied talents.
In April, the president impressed his people with a display of accomplished
horsemanship, wheeling around the capital’s hippodrome on a prized
Akhal-Teke horse.
Shortly after taking power in 2006, he performed minor surgery on television,
showing off some of the medical skills he learned in his previous career as
a dentist.
The move into song, however, is a sign that Mr Berdymukhamedov’s personality
cult is becoming almost as eccentric as that of his predecessor Saparmurat
Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmenbashi, leader of all Turkmen.
Mr Niyazov's accomplishments included building a giant rotating statue of
himself, forcing schoolchildren to study his self-penned book of wisdom, and
renaming January after himself and April after his mother.
Jiangmen, a port city of nearly four million people in Guangdong province, has
ruled that all dogs must be off the streets by the end of this month.
"We hope that all citizens will cooperate with us in creating a civilised
Jiangmen and send their dogs to live in the outskirts or rural areas,"
said a spokesman for the local government.
According to the details of the ban, a special "clean-up" campaign
will begin on August 26 to remove all remaining dogs from the city centre.
42 people have died from rabies in the city in the past three years.
Police teams will confiscate and put down all dogs they find, a spokesman for
the police warned.
"We do not want to kill all the dogs in the city's urban areas, but we
want to create a better environment for the city by banning dogs," said
the spokesman, to the official China Daily newspaper.
In the future, only factories or warehouses that store goods worth more than
five million yuan (f470,000) will be allowed to apply for a permit for a
guard dog.
Several Chinese cities, including Shanghai, have recently introduced a "one-dog
policy" to limit the number of pets that affluent Chinese are buying.
Many older Chinese remain scared of dogs after being taught by Maoist
propaganda that they were trained by Westerners to attack them.
Cities have also found it hard to keep their streets clean as dog populations
rise.
In Jiangmen, Gong Rongmao, a veterinarian at the city's Agriculture bureau,
said a special 13-acre centre had been set up to receive dogs from locals. "People
in the countryside can come and adopt dogs from this centre later. Sick dogs
will be put down though," he said.
Dog lovers in the city have protested at the draconian measure. "This ban
is not fair to dog owners and does not respect life," said Wang
Chengzhi, a Jiangmen local, to the China Daily.